Updating post from Reddit.
Hi I’m about to buy a BTL but the estate agent recommends their in house solicitor. What are the pros and cons of going through them rather than an outside solicitor?
Tell them to bog off. You may have to have a conversation with their in-house solicitor because they might not allow you to put in an offer otherwise, but you absolutely do not have to use them. You use whoever you want to use.
That would be imposing a conditional offer, which is illegal. Absolutely tell them to sod off and that you'll use your own solicitor. If they say your offer won't be passed on/accepted if you don't, ask for that in writing. That usually scares them off.
Scares them yes, but then they reply with “unfortunately your offer wasn’t accepted”
Then you knock on the door of the property and ask the owners if they received your offer. If they didn't, you report the estate agent and advise the owner that they're released from their contract and are free to accept your offer commission-free.
Or who ever is on the lender panel
As a buyer, it's important to remember that the ***seller has an estate agent***. You should avoid any conflicts of interest that may arise from listening to the sellers estate agent or their suppliers/providers. While they may or may not be ethical, it's crucial to be aware that if there is a problem with the title, the sellers estate agent may exert pressure on the solicitor to overlook it, which could potentially put you in financial jeopardy.
It's best to have your own solicitor without any third-party influence, working for you and in your best interests.
This goes for solicitors, mortgage advisers, etc..
My daughter used the EA recommended solicitor's for the sale of her old home and the purchase of her new home and honestly, they have been so useless. I have told her to go full Karen, but she insists she is firm with them, but it makes no difference. Her offer was accepted in May and still not completed in a very straight forward 2 person chain. The house she is selling is FTB and the house she is buying the vendor has moved out of the country.
Most conveyancing solicitors are like this to be fair
There's no advantage at all to you of using their solicitor. The only thing that might go your way is that the estate agent will want to complete the transaction and so the solicitor will be motivated. But they could just as easily not be motivated and not feeling any pressure, or that pressure could create a conflict of interest because if they find something that will take time to address while they are also getting pressure from their boss to complete fast, that's a tough spot for them.
For example in my last transaction there was an issue with some of the permits and whatnot for the plumbing and there was a risk the water company might demand money to fix it. The seller had insurance against this liability but the limit of insurance was too low - my solicitor wanted to insist that they pay for more cover, they didn't want to, eventually they caved. But a solicitor motivated to close the deal rather than do the right thing might have just taken their refusal and moved on.
There's a code of ethics for solicitors that forbids them from being influenced in that way, but it can obviously still happen. If the same solicitors got instructed by both parties to a transaction, they would decline to represent one of them, and I don't see why it's any different here really.
The estate agent obviously wants you to because they get more control, but also because it's financially advantageous for them. They don't have an obligation to do the right thing by you, they have an obligation to make money. Just say no and that you'll seek your own representation.
Personally I would always pay a bit more for a local conveyancing firm that I trust and can get ready access to. You can save a few hundred pounds but it only has to be an shitshow once for it to cost you far more than that.
Don't trust the estate agent's inspectors or surveyors or other contractors too. You need independent, reliable third parties, not someone with an interest in closing the transaction quickly.
No, get a real solicitor of your own. Not a conveyancing firm and not someone the agent has ties with.
I made the mistake of using the agents firm when I bought my first house and the agent didn't stop hassling me to agree to things that were clearly not right, but the conveyancers were telling the agents everything. Ended up dropping them and getting a real solicitor on board and have never looked back.
They tried to charge me for the work they had already done but went quiet when I pointed out their multiple breaches of confidentiality with the agents
How would you go about choosing a solicitor though I don’t live in the Uk as I’m an expat ATM so I don’t have any info apart from google. Also what do you mean by a real solicitor rather than a conveyancing firm? What’s the exact difference?
A conveyancing firm is a company that only does conveyancing. They'll have the majority of staff who they call "conveyancers" who have a basic understanding of the process who can just do basic functions like requesting searches, sending you info and shuffling paperwork. They have basically no legal training and anything even remotely unusual they'll either throw an indemnity policy at, or have to refer the case to one of the in house solicitors if you push for it (there might only be one or two of these so becomes a big delay).
If you look for a solicitors firm who can do conveyancing, then you (generally) get a much higher quality of person working on your case, who actually understands what they're doing, who can answer questions for you and will give meaningful advice.
For example, the conveyancing firm did all the searches then send through the raw results with a brief covering letter with what they had spotted. No information about what was good or not. The solicitors I use send a report on the searches (not the raw results unless I ask for it) with what concerns them, and what they've already done to address those concerns, and advise the consequences if the issues aren't resolved.
Google reviews and word of mouth are probably the best ways of finding one. But more tricky if you don't live in the country though
Only cons. Get your own solicitor.
I was silly enough to agree to using an estate agent’s recommended conveyancer for a BTL purchase, complete disaster, I was buying through a Ltd company which was obviously something the conveyancer, who was clearly very junior, had no experience of. Replies to emails took far too long, a lot of chasing was required, contacting them by phone was difficult and the whole thing almost fell apart towards the end because they were so slow. It was cheap but I wouldn’t do it again, use a proper solicitor and pay a bit more.
They tend to be rubbish - they are pushed as the agent makes a nice commission from their use.
Suggest shopping around for a good local conveyancer.
We used the ones that Purple Bricks recommend - they slowed the process down by months, completely incompetent! I suspect they are just over-run with customers as they have so many referrals and don't like to say no.
Look for a local solicitor.
The in house estate agent usually isn't really in house. The estate agent just gets a commission. In alot of cases they're an online conveyancing company, it's a lottery system whether you get a good or bad one.
Realistically it won't make much difference either way. All conveyancing solicitors are absolutely useless and I'm surprised most of them are allowed to vote or drive, let alone help someone get into hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of debt.
A good idea for Dragons Den would be a conveyancing solicitors firm that employs competent humans.
A mate recommended Grindleys as they did two BTL purchases through them and were happy with them. Looking online there seem to be a few bad reviews but much much better than Countrywide which ended up being the estate agents “in house” one. Anyone know if Grindleys is also to be avoided?
I use my solicitor for all my purchases- they know how I work and what I expect
One advantage is that the agent can help push the sale through more easily. Conveyancing solicitors have to constantly be chased in my experience. The disadvantage is that the solicitors may not be great or more expensive than what you could find independently